By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
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The Hawai'i-based Marine killed Thursday in Afghanistan has been identified as Lance Cpl. Phillip George of Texas.
George and his fellow Marines were working to stabilize a turbulent area of eastern Afghanistan in preparation for parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.
George, 22, from the Houston suburb of Pasadena, was killed during combat operations Thursday when his unit was engaged by enemy troops near a Taliban village, said Gunnery Sgt. Claudia LaMantia, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i.
He has been recommended for a Purple Heart, LaMantia said.
George's father, Carson George, is a Vietnam veteran working for KBR-Halliburton in Iraq and will fly to Germany to escort his son's body home, the Houston Chronicle reported.
"We are very proud of Phillip," said his mother, Penny George. "We feel he is a hero and he died doing exactly what he wanted to do and what God told him to do. At least I can say Phillip was a hero."
His sister, Sara George, said her brother was "the strongest person I've ever known. He stood up for what he believed in." Phillip George saw his military friends as family, she said.
"He's a third-generation soldier. My grandfather was in World War II, and my father was in Vietnam," she said. "It's what he wanted to do. After 9/11, that just kind of made him want to join even more. He wanted to serve his country, help people."
He graduated from Grace Christian School in Houston in 2000 and enlisted in the Marines two years later. He went to Afghanistan in May. He would have turned 23 on Sept. 3.
The young Marine returned to Pasadena for a brief visit in April.
"It was the first time in four or five years the family was able to get together," Sara George said. "We knew this was the last time we'd see Phillip for a while. I never thought he wouldn't make it home at all."
The last time the family heard from her brother was in July, in a brief e-mail.
"He told us he'd been out on a mission. He was enjoying himself. He said he was having fun out there," Sara George said. "I think he was just trying to comfort the family."
In addition to his parents and sister, George is survived by his older brother, Aaron George, and by his maternal grandparents, Elsie and Herman Singleton.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honolulu advertiser.com.Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
